University Wire
08-22-2000
(The Current) (U-WIRE) ST. LOUIS -- As students prepared to walk the aisle earlier this month, 11 of the graduates had the special distinction of being the University of Missouri-St. Louis' first class of cyber-MBA's.
Thomas Eyssel, director of graduate programs in business, said the program was designed to fit into the busy schedules of non-traditional students.
"People have less and less time to spend in class. We found that for a traditional MBA student, you're really looking at three years coming to class two nights a week," Eyssel said.
Eyssel noted that some students take actually take four or five years to earn their Masters in Business Administration, while the cyber program lasts just under two years.
"This is a way for someone who's working full time to come in and complete an MBA in 23 months," Eyssel said.
Eyssel stressed that the program is not a shortcut. He said it has high entry requirements, including an evaluation of GMAT scores, an undergraduate GPA requirement, three years of work experience, and a personal interview process.
"We're cramming the traditional MBA into 23 months so it's very intensive," Eyssel said.
The cyber-MBA was started by Don Kummer, former director of graduate programs, and Doug Durand, dean of the College of Business Administration.
Durand, who has helped establish similar programs on other campuses, said the students benefited from the greater freedom the Internet format allowed.
"What we're really providing here is a program of the highest quality with the greatest flexibility for the students," Durand said.
Eyssel described the Cyber MBA as an "Internet-enhanced program" in which the students' time was divided between class hours and time spent online. Students attend classes on campus for one weekend of each month. Eyssel said the main feature of the online component was participation in ongoing discussion threads that centered on various subjects within the discipline.
"The idea is to keep the students engaged literally all the time," Eyssel said.
Eyssel said this system allowed students to participate in the discussions without the constraints of regularly scheduled class meetings.
"It's like a classroom discussion except it takes place over 24 hours," Eyssel said.
Durand praised the way the online portion of the class allowed all of the students to participate.
"You get extremely high quality interaction, even more interaction than you typically get in a classroom. Everyone gets their questions answered," Durand said.
Eleven students graduated in the first class of cyber-MBAs. Fifteen are enrolled in the second, and Eyssel said the goal for the third class was 20 students. He said the backgrounds of the graduates are diverse, including art, engineering, and medicine, as well as business.
Eyssel said that while there were other online programs available, UMSL's is the only one in St. Louis that is accredited by the AACSB, an international organization that oversees management education.
"
This is really the way education is going", Eyssel said. "Convenience is crucial. I always tell people who are looking at the program two things: we focus on convenience and quality."
(C) 2000 The Current via U-WIRE
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